stadium

Some fans have been camping for over a month ahead of Wednesday's show

Music lovers organize roll call with daily check-in times to keep spot instead of camping outside Olympic Stadium

Initiative will facilitate, promote and support up to 14 innovative companies

The Spanish government’s Delegate in Madrid, Concepción Dancausa, warned that those supporters who attend the Copa del Rey final between Barça and Sevilla carrying pro-independence flags won’t be able to access the stadium. According to Dancausa, 2,500 police agents will work to guarantee the security at Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid and will set in place two lines of security controlling access to the arena. Thus, they “will make sure” that nobody is carrying “dangerous items such as or bottles or materials of racist, xenophobic, political or religious propaganda which may lead to public confrontations”, she stated. At the last Champions League final on the 6th June, UEFA fined FC Barcelona for showing pro-independence flags during the match and earlier this year the club was sanctioned with a 30,000 euro fine for the same reason.

The Nikken Sekkei Studio (Japan) and the Pascual-Ausió architect firm (Catalonia) teamed up for the winning project for the New Camp Nou, which was presented to the media at the current stadium, in the presence of the first team. The New Camp Nou stadium will play on the current stadium´s signature overhanging roof, and it will hold itself to the highest standards of sustainability, utilising collected rainwater and solar power. To be concluded for the 2020/21 season, the New Camp Nou will have a capacity of 105,000, a growth which will allow members on the waitlist for seats to acquire tickets. The Les Corts neighbourhood in Barcelona provides the ideal backdrop for the new stadium, as it offers space for expansion, and since the additional buildings have been tailored to blend in with the surrounding area. 

Barcelona Olympic Ring will become the home of the first theme park in the world entirely dedicated to sports, called Open Camp Sportainment. According to the company responsible for the project, the 66.000 m² theme park will offer a "unique" show involving technology, family and sports. The new attraction will occupy the current Olympic Stadium, the Palau Sant Jordi sports hall, the Olympic Museum, the Bernat Picornell swimming pool, the telecommunications tower designed by Santiago Calatrava and the INEFC sports faculty. All these facilities will combine their regular activities with those of the theme park, which will be open from April to October. The project expects 7,000 visitors per day and an annual economic impact for Barcelona of 53 million euros.  

The Catalan club’s President Josep Maria Bartomeu launches the information campaign for the New Espai Barça with an exhibition at the Camp Nou. The campaign will run through to April 3, when club members will be called to vote on the reform. "This is the starting point of the referendum process. This proposal is centred on a comprehensive facelift of the Stadium, and a new Palau” explained FC Barcelona’s President. “The project is financeable. We will not be saddling a generation of Barça members with big debt payments” said the club’s Financial Vice President, Javier Faus.

According to FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell, “the option of building a new stadium on a new site has been dismissed as the final cost could well mortgage the club’s future”. Moving to a new site and building brand new facilities had an estimate cost of €1.2 billion, while the alternative chosen costs €600 million. The project also includes building a new Palau Blaugrana and an Espai Barça. The members’ referendum on the new stadium to be built over the existing structure will be held on 5/6 April

The Financial Vice-President Javier Faus says that the Board of Directors are studying options to build a new stadium or remodel the Camp Nou, which is Europe’s largest stadium by capacity with 99,700 seats. Faus stated “We want to secure patrimonial excellence for the next 100 years”. In addition, he explained that the FC Barcelona Board will only present building projects for referendum that are economically viable. Faus recognised that building a whole new stadium at Diagonal would be much more expensive than the rebuilding project at Les Corts. The first project would cost €600 million and the second, €300 million.